Friday 23 March is the National Ride2School day Australian students will grab their wheels and ride to school, creating one of Australia’s largest celebrations of active participation. It is anticipated that over 140,000 Australian kids at over 1,000 primary and secondary schools will participate. Students and school communities across Australia will embrace a healthier start to the day.

National Ride2School Day is an opportunity to promote riding, scooting, skating and walking to school as a means of transport, which has proven health and wellbeing benefits. The biggest day in the Bicycle Network’s Ride2School program calendar, National Ride2School Day sees student’s in registered schools average riding rate increase to 48 percent, more than double the national average.

Here in Bendigo Schools such as Spring Gully, White Hills, Epsom, St Monica’s Kangaroo Flat, Big Hill Golden Square, California Gully and Axedale Primary Schools have embraced this day with great enthusiasm innovation and connection with the wider cycling community. Read the rest of this entry »

On ya bikes: kids can test out a different way to get to school. Photo: Bicycle Victoria

Students across Australia will embrace a healthier start to the day on Wednesday 17 March with thousands of schools across the country celebrating National Ride2School Day.

Over 100,000 Aussie kids will celebrate the annual event at their school with healthy breakfasts, all-day cycling festivals, school parades and bike excursions. National Ride2School Day is an opportunity to promote physical activity as a means of transport which has proven benefits to a child’s health and wellbeing.

Comedian and radio announcer, Matt Tilley from Melbourne’s Fox FM, has hopped onboard the Ride2School Program and is officially the 2010 National Ride2School Day Ambassador. “Sure, riding to school is a great way to keep kids active and confident in their own abilities – but let’s be honest, more than anything else it’s the only guaranteed way for kids to avoid that embarrassing kiss at the school gates or Mum sitting in the school car park in her pink dressing gown,” he said.

Ride2School Events Manager, Ms Mary Akiki, said schools registered in the program have reported nearly half of their students are actively getting to school either by riding, walking, or by scooter. “By actively getting to and from school student’s daily physical activity increases significantly, which benefits their overall health and helps reduce the risk of obesity and associated health problems,” Ms Akiki said.

Bicycle Victoria’s CEO, Mr Harry Barber, said National Ride2School Day in 2009 was a huge success with over 1,000 schools registering and 100,000 students enrolled. “National Ride2School Day allows parents and teachers to embrace active travel as an alternative. The event has become the largest ever national celebration of walking and riding to school,” Mr Barber said. The Ride2School program, run all year round, is well on the way to changing the active travel habits of students since it began in 2005. It is free for schools to sign up, and no cost need be involved on the day.

Log onto www.ride2school.com.au to sign up and receive a promotional kit Ride2School is brought to you by ‘Go for your life’.

Preparing for the day is knowing the ABC of cycling – some very basic yet important rules to know before starting off.

A is for air in your tyres.
All bikes perform better if they have the prescribed amount of air in the tyres. This amount is found on the side walls of the tyres and in doing so they will hold the road better in cornering, rolling along with minimal resistance and the need to stop quickly for the tyre to flatten enough to grip the road surface. The right amount of air keeps the optimum amount of rubber in contact with the road making it safe all round for the rider and others they share the ride with. Are the tyres themselves in road worthy condition and not cracked or worn out?

B is for brakes.
Are they road worthy in working order the first time every time? Are the brake blocks aligning with the rim surface which is clean and oil and grease free? Are the brake cables working freely not requiring excessive pressure because the cables are seizing? A visual inspection and push with some active use of the brakes to gauge their responsive operation will only take moments but give confidence that the bike will be safe. Checking a back pedal brake is as just important.

C is for a number of checks that are important to make the circle of safety complete.
The chain being at the right tension can make a lot of difference. Nothing worse than dropping the chain from being too loose and your child struggling to get the chain back on. Chain tension can affect back brakes operation and a tight chain can make the back wheel slip sideways in the frame and bring the riding experience to a grinding halt. C can also stand for the dreaded crash and our greatest fears of being injured. There used to be a very prophetic message of wearing helmets of “don’t hit the road without one”. Is the helmet cover itself in clean and sound condition with no cracks and abrasions with the inner padding for absorption of pressure in event of a fall.. Is the clip in a condition that it does not come open and stays locked. Are the straps correctly aligned so that the front of the helmet is no more than two fingers depth above the eye brows with side clips located just beneath the ear lobes?

Tony and Caitlin share their experience with a bike trailer for Samuel.

Having children brings untold joy into your life, with an exponential increase of the amount of stuff that can invade your house. Assessing what is really required it is easy to write off a bike trailer as unnecessary, expensive and space-hogging. But here are five reasons why they are worth it: Read the rest of this entry »

Do not conform your children to your own learning for they were born for another time -Hebrew Proverb
We see them on the street standing tall over small bike frames the whole time as rarely do they sit on the seat. The bikes are quite often absent of brakes as the riders create their own free style braking method of the shoe over the frame onto the back wheel.

These young riders are athletic and extremely agile and have an extreme sense of fun. They defy all cycling thinking of set up of seat height frame size and gearing yet in their own way it all fits the style of riding chosen but to the untrained eye it is just another BMX. Read the rest of this entry »

Kids enjoy some exercise and independence by riding to school. (Photo Eddie Barkla)

Wednesday 25 March was National Ride2School day which is a “Go for your life” initiative with the hope building behaviours and connections to assist our youth to be healthy and active.

‘Medical experts tell us that school students should be aiming for at least 60 minutes of daily activity to beat off obesity-related diseases, including diabetes 2 and cardiovascular disease,’ according to Ms Leigh Snelling, Ride2School’s Director. Leigh said National Ride2School Day was a great way of showing how easy it is to include exercise into daily routine for a healthier, cleaner and greener future. Read the rest of this entry »

Maybe it’s the free breakfast, but Ride to Work Day gets bigger every year. The good people at Bicycle Victoria wondered why the grownups should have all the fun. So now there’s Ride to School Day on Wednesday 12 March.

It’s actually part of a much bigger, year-round program designed to encourage kids to get more physically active. And, like Ride to Work Day, it’s a great way to try out the idea with a lot of other people.

If riding to school is a new idea for your children you’ll need to do some preparation before you pack their lunch and wave them goodbye. Start with their gear. Read the rest of this entry »

Forget the training wheels on those new bikes. Children (and adults!) can learn to ride faster without them. A simple three step method develops confidence with balance before the new rider has to worry about pedalling.

Remove the training wheels if fitted. Now take off the pedals and lower the seat so the child can sit on it with both feet flat on the ground. Read the rest of this entry »